Centurions Club Match Report: Bath Rugby v London Irish

20 February 2013

Another five point - five star performance as Bath cruised to a sixth consecutive win.

With time up on the clock, Anthony Perenise stormed over the tryline to clinch a memorable bonus point win against an impressive, strong display from London Irish. The crowds' excitement in celebrating the last gasp bonus point win was a mixture of joy and relief as the Irish had earlier in the second-half clawed their way back to within seven points.

The first-half started with Bath pressure, and was littered with Irish penalties. Referee David Rose went on to give reportedly over 20 penalties against the Irish, as well as a penalty try and sending three of their players to the sin bin throughout the game, which was competitive but not contentious.

The game came alive when Tom Biggs, attempting to cross the line in the corner, was caught by a high tackle from Topsy Ojo, resulting in the penalty try for Bath and a yellow card for Ojo. Soon after the Bath lead was further stretched when Nick Abendanon received a sublime pass, beat two defenders and stretched over the line for a try that brought the fans to their feet.

Both the first-half tries were converted by Tom Heathcote, who certainly had his kicking boots on, although two attempts at goal needed some help from the posts!

The second-half witnessed Bath playing expansive rugby but it was London Irish who scored the try of the match as Jack Moates finished of a length of the field move which only served to show how talented this Irish team are.

With London Irish coming back into the game, Bath piled on the pressure and the forwards, who dominated their Irish opposition in both set and open play, set up a crowd pleasing moment, when Nathan Catt went over for the third try, which set up the excitement for the last four minutes of the game leading to that much desired bonus point score from Perenise.

An away game on Saturday will be a big test to see if Bath can go for a "Magnificent Seven" in a row.